Darnell ends drought

James Darnell sensed an atmosphere akin to the postseason, rather than a Saturday conference game in early May. Although it wasn’t do-or-die for the USC baseball team, it sure felt like it to Darnell, his teammates and the fans at Sarge Frye Field.

The tenseness went away for at least a day, thanks in large part to Darnell. The Gamecock junior’s two-run single in the seventh was the difference in a 6-5 victory against visiting Florida, ending USC’s four-game losing streak.

“It just pumps me up. At the end, the life in the crowd and everything, that’s why I play the game,” Darnell said. “So I think this gives us a lot of momentum going forward.”

Whether it is enough to propel the Gamecocks back into contention for a national seed in the NCAA tournament remains to be seen. At a minimum, they stopped the bleeding.Darnell’s hit gave USC (32-15, 12-11 in the SEC) its first lead of a game where big plays had mostly gone Florida’s way. If not for Darnell’s hit, two ill-fated decisions by USC to send a runner home would have made the difference.

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